Calcutta: The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) roped in Australian speedster Shaun Tait in their ranks as a replacement for the injured John Hastings.

Tait joined the squad on Wednesday, hitting the nets straightaway for the evening training session that lasted for almost three hours.

The franchise, though, made the official announcement regarding Tait's arrival late in the evening. "Pleasure to welcome @shaun_tait32 to @KKRiders family. Welcome Taity!" KKR CEO Venky Mysore tweeted.

A team official, when asked about this matter, said: "We lost Hastings at a time when there were plenty of matches still left. We needed someone with good experience especially in this T20 format. Shaun is someone who fits the bill. His numbers in T20 cricket are impressive."

In 159 T20 matches he has played so far, Tait has picked up 208 wickets.

In international cricket, however, Tait didn't have a very good time lately. In the T20Is versus India earlier in the year Down Under, he proved to be expensive.

Playing in two of the three matches, Tait conceded as many as 91 runs in the eight overs he had bowled, going wicketless. India's batsmen hardly had any problem in tackling him.

But in the Pakistan Super League - the last competition he was part of - the 33-year-old fared better. Representing the Peshawar Zalmi side, Tait finished with 10 wickets from nine matches.

The Peshawar franchise lost in the third qualifying to Islamabad United, who were the eventual champions.

The Knight Riders, meanwhile, are optimistic regarding Sunil Narine's recovery from injury. Narine, missing the team's last two matches due to a finger injury, bowled for quite some during Wednesday's training session.

He didn't look to be in any kind of discomfort. When queried later, biomechanics expert Carl Crowe, who is with the squad, said: "Narine's condition has improved. He has to be observed carefully over the next couple of days before rushing him back into the team."